Just another Rodeo
by Rin Lombardi
Summary: It's just like the gallery, except it's under a mountain and everything may possibly not want to kill them. Maybe. Just another day at the -art gallery-rodeo- Under the mountain? In the life of two traumatized people? Hard to figure out.
1. Chapter 1

_See you again, Ib._

Never thought it'd be like this.

Everything from her head to her toes hurt. The fact she still felt anything at all showed her attempt had failed. A small sob escaped her as she jerked herself into a sitting position, curling up and pressing her head to her knees with some more softer crying. She only stops when footsteps back over to her have her rubbing her eyes frantically.

"It's alright to cry, Ib." And that voice alone has her sobbing again because she knows exactly who it is. And Ib knows she can trust him not to judge her for crying. He comes into her view and bends down, fringed edges of a dark poncho spreading out as he kneels before her. He looks like he hasn't changed a bit in the three years she's known him, and it's soothing, it's like being in the gallery and knowing he was there too, stuck like she was. Ib flings herself forward to grip him and cry into his poncho uninhibited, and Garry lets her with nothing but a gentle back rub.

"I'm serious, it's always okay to cry, Ib. It shows you care." He assures her again, not really knowing _why_ she was crying, but willing to let her just work it out of her system. "Do you mind if I carry you, hon? I want to get you out of these flowers. They're toxic." The concern in his voice has Ib nodding and he scoops her up gently before starting off out of the beam of light and flower patch.

Ib wiggles a bit in his arms before settling, looking over his shoulder at the flowers as he goes further into the cave. One thought keeps bumping back to her mind though. Why was he here _too_? Had Garry tried doing the same thing she had, and failed just like her? It was sad. "Garry?" She asks softly, turning her head to look up at him. Garry looks at her as he walks, humming a touch.

"Yes Ib?" Garry asks finally as he bends to enter a smaller chamber, looking around and locking eyes with a tiny flower on the ground. A flower with a _face_. If he wasn't holding Ib he probably would've thrown any nearby object at it, because every part of him was screaming 'Bad Flower' at it. And usually, when his brain was screaming bad anything, it was a good judge of character. Therefore, that flower was a _bad flower_.

Ib tilts her head to follow Garry's eyes and scrunches her nose a bit at the smiling flower as she speaks. "Thank you. What's that?" The flower beams more at her asking that, bobbing it's head toward them.

"Howdy! I'm Flowey the Flower!" Nope. Nope. Nope. Both of them are not okay with this, and Garry sets Ib down and slides her behind him on instinct, putting himself between the two. He didn't trust that thing, as normal as it seemed to be, beyond the face, it was hitting every possible alarm in his brain. "You guys're new here!" The flower bobs its head back and forth some more, white petals fluttering into existence. "Let me teach you both some things, ey?"

"Stay behind me, Ib. I don't like the looks of this.. Thing."

"Me neither, Garry.."


	2. The Ruins

The flower never got the chance. A rock bounced off it's head, and a fireball smashed into the spot it had been, keyword being had. Flowey had delved into the ground the second the rock hit it. Garry is still tense, one hand still clutched by Ib-ready to pull him and run, flee from a danger that they couldn't see yet- looking ahead at the shape approaching them. Shapes, there was two.

"Oh dear, that was close." The goat woman says-she could speak?- in a nervous voice as she walks behind the other child, who is jogging close to make sure they're alright. Ib seems to trust the child, and the goat lady in turn, so Garry relaxes.

"Thank you for the save, that flower felt no good." Garry thanks while Ib slinks around to stand beside him, waving a hello to the kid. The kid beams, glad to see they're unharmed.

[He is no good] Fingers fly, and while Garry may not get it, Ib does. She gasps softly-probably at seeing someone else use sign language so fluently- and smiles a bit before answering in turn. [The flower gave us the heebie jeebies] The other kid seems more startled at Ib understanding them than by the statement, smile growing ever wider.

"Flowey is an odd one indeed. Are you perhaps her brother, sir?" Goat lady asks, and Garry's head turns from the two children and to her, managing a hesitant smile. She is definitely a goat lady, that's for sure. It's unnerving.

"No, just a friend of hers. My name's Garry, and hers is Ib." He explains, and Ib looks up to smile and wave a bit at her before going back to fast signing with the child. He wonders idly what they're saying, he only catches snippets as he hasn't practiced as much as he'd like. Ib's got part of his poncho resting on her shoulder, just to remind herself he's there and calm her heart from it's frantic beating.

"Ah, I understand. I am Toriel of the ruins, and they're Frisk. We were doing our rounds and happened to hear Flowey up to his usual shenanigans. I'm glad we got to stop him from doing either of you harm!" The goat woman-now revealed to be Toriel- beams, and turns, motioning the group to follow. Frisk hesitantly breaks off from Ib to trot closer to Toriel, while Garry looks unsure. After all, was it safe to follow someone you just met? But as Ib's hand finds his and starts to pull, he supposes he's done this before. No need to break the trend now.

Garry lets Ib pull him along-so familiar like back in that dim gallery in quiet- as he formulates his words. It's impolite to just ask what she is, but he also can't help but wonder-after that magical display, after the appearance- what Toriel is. "..Miss Toriel?" He starts, and waits until she hums to continue. "I don't mean to sound impolite or rude, but… what are you?" There's a silence as she leads them to a path covered in spikes, and as she's taking Frisk's hand-Ib takes Toriel's hand too after a gentle prompting- she finally answers him.

The steps across the path are calculated and she walks them with ease. "I'm a monster, Garry. I don't know if you know the history of them, or why we are trapped beneath the mountain, but I could enlighten you later, if you'd like?" And Garry wants to say no, that she can't be a monster, because they aren't real. But he can't, because he and Ib had been through a gallery three years ago-through events horrible- that he would have also said was impossible, had he heard about it prior to the event. Garry knows that if she says she's a monster, she must be. He simply needs to let it sink in now that they're off the spikes, Toriel walking them along many, many paths.

"I think I'd like that, Toriel. Thank you." He settles on saying as they arrive before a building together, Frisk barreling on ahead now that their home was in sight. They only stop at the door to look back for Toriel's approval before vanishing inside.

"Then I'll teach you both over some pie!" She sounds excited about Pie.


End file.
